Railroad cars that are adapted to carry automobiles are enclosed structure. Such railroad cars are provided with sidewalls, a roof spanning the sidewalls and ends that are closed off by doors. Typically, the railroad cars are designed to have a floor and either one or two intermediate decks supported above the floor for holding automobiles loaded thereon. The automobiles are driven from platforms at the end of the railroad car onto either the floor or one of the decks of the railroad car during loading.
The height of the railroad car is a critical matter. Due to limitations (underpasses, tunnels, and the like) along the railway, the height of the car is restricted, especially, in the case of a car designed for three levels, i.e. having two decks supported above the floor. The total height of each automobile is thus limited by the height of the roof above the floor and by the width of the decks. A saving of two or three inches can be of great significance.
A number of end closure (door) designs are known for the railroad cars of the type being discussed. Usually, the doors slide from the closed position to a position along the inside of the sidewalls of the railroad car. Referring to FIG. 1, the doors are hung from a tubular track member 10, for example a hollow tube having a long axial slot extending substantially the length thereof. The tracking elements, for example, rollers 11 are arranged to roll within the tubular track member. A pendent bracket 12 extends downwardly from its pivotal connection with the rollers 11. The bracket passes through the slot in the bottom of the tube. The sliding doors 13 are secured to the bracket 12.
The tubular track member 10 is mounted at the same level above the floor (not shown) as a deck 15 supported above the floor for carrying automobiles. The track member 10 may be held to the deck 15 by cantilevered brackets 16 that extend over the top of the track member 10 leaving the slot in the bottom thereof unobstructed. The cantilevered bracket is welded directly to the top of the track member 10 and to the top of the deck 15.
It is current practice to drive the automobiles onto the railroad cars from stationary platforms positioned at the ends thereof. To support the automobiles as they pass from the stationary platform to the deck of the railroad car, a standard bridge plate 18 is emplaced (see FIG. 2). The standard bridge plate is a plate having a gudgeon 19 (usually a 2 inch pipe section about 171/2 inches long) welded to the bottom surface of the bridge plate. Fixed to the top surface of the deck (or the rail) are two spaced gudgeons 20 (usually 2 inch pipe sections 2 inches long spaced about 18 inches apart). Thus, when the gudgeon 19 on the bridge plate is axially aligned with the gudgeons 20 on the deck, a rod 21 may be passed therethrough for fastening the bridge plate 18 to the deck 15. The other end of the bridge plate rests upon a stationary platform (not shown). Since the bridge plate just described supports the wheels on one side of an automobile only, two bridge plates are required for each deck. The bridge plates must be spaced apart the width of the wheels of an autombile.
The thickness of the 2 inch pipe and bridge plate raised above the deck (T in FIG. 2) diminishes the deck-to-roof distance and thus the height of the automobiles that can be carried upon the deck.
It is an advantage according to this invention to provide an assembly for securing a standard bridge plate to the upper deck of a railroad car arranged for carrying automobiles without reducing the deck-to-roof dimension.